With the first rays of sunshine of the new day, Sane regained consciousness. Groaning, he straightened up. His head buzzed like it had been after a collision with a rhinoceros. But the fact could not be shaken. He had eaten a devil fruit. Although he did not know what fruit it was, the signs of it could not be dismissed out of hand. Sane also knew what this meant. In the order of the assassins, eating a fruit of the devil was punishable by death.
Sane's life was forfeit. But he was still close to his final victim for that. If he doesn't get the body off the street soon, there is a high risk that he will be discovered. The assassin hurried to work.
Sane wore a white robe with red threads worked into it, as the rules of his order prescribed for him. The only difference to normal religious clothing was the red lily, the symbol of the assassin's angel of death. There was currently no other in his rank at West Blue. So Sane had to do the jobs all by himself, which had to be done unobtrusively.
The assassins were sought-after contract killers and were often in the service of the world government. In addition, they were used in smaller squads to eliminate pirates. The red lilies were a special unit that always acted in the background. They should discreetly eliminate people or intercept messengers and steal their goods. These ventures did not necessarily end fatally for the messengers. This time the assignment was clear.
The black cloak Sane had been wearing for the past few days was now hanging on the branch of a tree. Sane wore his light brown hair tousled. His scimitar hung from his belt and his dagger was attached to his belt. He also wore a small jackknife on his wrist.
Equipped in this way, he entered the city of Chloros. The city was enclosed by a huge stone wall, which had protected the city from land attacks for almost 800 years. Towards the sea the wall ran into the water and left little space for passing ships. Despite this security measure, the city had become a center of piracy in the West Blue. The navy is based on the other side of the island in Flourance and was therefore quite powerless against smuggling. In addition, Chloros, like Flourance, were free cities and did not belong to the world government. The post was actually only built to secure and control trade on Gasair Island.
Just as Sane entered the city, he was met by a large crowd of pirates. A tall man with a billowing wine-red coat, sunglasses and a spiky hairstyle stormed ahead of this pack. Sane stepped aside as the man ran angrily past him through the city gate. Behind him came his gang, who had great difficulty following their captain's pace.Sane knew the pirate: Gave Field, the sword rose, bounty of 19 million berries. Among the pirates of the West Blues, this was one of the most powerful and strongest. He hadn't eaten devil fruit, but he was a virtuoso in the field of swordsmanship.
The assassin had now reached his destination, the harbor. Now he was trying to get a cheap, small ship to get to the mother-of-pearl fortress. After looking at several ships and also finding out their price, he made Kassensturz. "Oh dear, that's not quite enough," said Sane, looking at the pathetic 200,000 berries he still owned. Suddenly someone was tugging at his robe.
Sane turned to see a little boy with orange hair. The most striking, however, was the blue star that was emblazoned on his T-shirt. "What do you want, little one?" The assassin asked the boy.
"Are you looking for a ship?" He replied, "my father makes great ships."
"Do you also have ships that cost less than 200,000 berries? I don't have more," Sane said to the boy.
He just said: "I don't think so, because my mother makes the prices and they are often very high. But take part in the tournament in the town hall, there is a very high prize money." The boy spoke and dashed into the crowd in the market and was gone.

The town hall was a very large building in the center of Chloros town. You could see it from almost every part of the city. Two swords made of gold, which represented the wealth of the city, hung over the entrance of the magnificent white building. The fighting tournament at Chlorus was a well-known tournament in which many bounty hunters, city guards and also pirates and members of the navy took part.
Sane stood in front of the large double doors and tilted his head thoughtfully. Should he take part in the tournament? He wondered. If he took part, he could pay for the crossing or buy a boat straight away. But he would get in a lot of trouble with the Grand Master because the rules of the Assassin forbade him to take part in popular amusements. But if he did not take part, he would perish on the island if he did not get a pirate's bounty.
Either way, he needed money and in a fighting tournament he could earn it easily and, above all, quickly. He could still follow Gave Field, but in his opinion it was still a size too big for him.
Resolutely, he pushed the door open and entered. There was a lot of activity in the hall. Many fighters from the area came here to measure their strength. Sane discovered many well-known bounty hunters who really wanted to compete with the best.
The assassin logged on. As soon as he had drawn a card, a dong sounded and a loud voice rang out: "Dear fighters, you are probably wondering why you should draw cards.The cards have different colors, a total of 4 different ones. These mark the group in which they participate. This year's participation test is a cross-country run through the area around Chloros. The respective winners of the individual groups compete in the first round against the second in their own group. The reds start first, then the blue, green and finally the yellow. The rest of you will wait in the hall. "
The small, somewhat plump man who had given this opening speech left the room through the main door. Sane looked at his card.Red, he thought and followed the man, who was also the mayor of Chloros at the same time, out the door with a shrug.
The mayor took them out the gate to a large meadow. "As you can see, the route is described from here. Just follow the signs and you will get to your destination."
"And why should we take part in it?" Asked a voice from the crowd.
"Exactly, what has that got to do with fighting?" Someone called from the back rows.
"You are wondering what this has to do with a fighting tournament? Think hard. We are testing your endurance here, because every fighter needs that," the mayor roared, drew a pistol and shot into the sky.
The pack began to move. First the path led inland towards a small mountain range. But on the way there was a wide river that had to be crossed. A man who reached this river first jumped into the water and tried to swim across the river. However, it drifted off quite a bit. The next one tried wading, but made too slow progress. From the wrap of his eyes Sane saw how some participants turned away disappointed. The assassin smiled, quickened his pace, and jumped across the river with a daring leap. Other participants also crossed the river this way.
When Sane looked around for a moment, he saw that the field had shrunk to just under two dozen. But in front of them the next obstacle loomed: a mighty rock, which was criss-crossed by cliffs and furrows. The warrior of the lily jumped straight onto the next cliff and climbed to almost 100 meters with great jumps without any problems. However, the next cliff was a little further away and he had to start the normal ascent. Only small dots could be seen below him, slowly moving upwards.
Sane was almost half the way to the next cliff when a woman pushed past him a few meters away. This had chosen an easier route and was able to move upwards without any problems. The white-robed warrior quickened his pace so that no one else could pull past him.
From the next cliff, Sane made it to the summit without any further problems. From up there you had a great view of the entire island.In addition, he was able to observe his opponents and also assess whether any of them could be dangerous to him. The assassin even played with kicking an avalanche for a moment, but that could be fatal. That is why Sane began his descent.
He quickly caught up with his opponent in front of him. Overall, the descent went much faster, mainly because there were several small ledges. Shortly before the ground, however, Sane heard a rumble coming down from the mountain. Sane knew this sound: An avalanche was rolling towards him from behind! The assassin acted instinctively. He waited until the avalanche was very close and then pushed himself off the cliff he was standing on. With this daring jump he was able to avoid the avalanche and when it was over, he was able to reload on his cliff.
His competitor had dared to fully descend in front of the avalanche and gained a large lead. Now she was already running towards the target and Sane had no chance to catch up with her. Cursing, Sane set out to end the competition as well.

After Sane reached the destination, he was taken back to the town hall. A room had been set up there in which he could find fresh clothes and a comfortable bed. The tournament wasn't supposed to continue until the next day and he could take a bit of sleep. The last eight will meet again the next morning ...